Electrocautery knives are extensively employed in surgeries of widely varying types. As is well known, they are utilized to both dissect tissue and to cauterize blood vessels. In either case, the tissue or blood vessel being contacted by the electrocautery knife is subject to the elevated temperatures produced by the knife and, in turn, has its temperature elevated to the point where thermal decomposition occurs.
Products of the thermal decomposition are visible as smoke and generally apparent by reason of having an offensive odor as well. In either case, the decomposition products are likely to be an irritant to healthcare workers in the vicinity of the surgery being performed.
Moreover, little is known about the composition of the smoke particles but a recent study published in the May, 1992 issue of "Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery" entitled The Mutagenicity of Electrocautery Smoke has concluded that the smoke produced with an electrocautery knife during reduction mammaplasty was found to be mutagenic to at least one strain of salmonella. Thus, while it is not known whether the smoke produced during use of an electrocautery knife represents a serious health hazard, the fact that such smokes were able to alter the genetic makeup of certain salmonella bacteria suggests the presence of a potential health risk requiring that healthcare workers, particularly surgeons, working in the vicinity of a surgery employing an electrocautery knife should attempt to limit their exposure to the smoke produced by the knife.
The present invention is directed overcoming the above problem.